Here's one. Let's talk about favorite moments. I'm thinking that, if you can, provide two. The first will be your favorite moment for your own character. The other will be your favorite moment for someone else' character.

And then Rose's playful side caused her to do something, on the spur of the moment, that she would never, under any possible conditions, have done a couple of weeks earlier, before meeting Drusia.

Rather than repeating the "testing" mental message, she thought something quite different at Argus. <"Well, it sounds like making whoopee is the order of the day here. Want to join them?"> She winked, knowing that the mind-message wasn't going to get through until that green light in the window went away ...

... And only then did she realize that her access to magic was back, and she was speaking in Argus' mind after all.

Good idea for a thread! There's a tonne of moments I enjoyed in the story so far, here's a couple.

Jade and Leo

Jade had found her rhythm, it happened sooner or later when she was constructing a weapon. Her hammer clinked back and forth at a steady pace as she molded the extra parts for the casing of the new mana-rifle.

Ching-ching-ching-ching-ching-ching-ching-ching...

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to work we go... with a bucket and spade and a hand grenade..."

"Shut up Leo."

Jaime and Tamina

It was impossible to say who landed on the bottom of the ball of skin and feathers that were Jamie and the Parrot. After all, the parrot was too small to hurt Jamie just by landing on her, and Jamie couldn't crush the familiar to death by landing on it, thanks to its being indestructible. All that could be said was that when the landing occurred, the table on which it took place certainly did not come out on top.

From a swirl of twisting dust,spattering beer, and flying splinters, Jamie's hand shot out and grabbed the remains of one of the table's legs. The hand and table leg disappeared back into the hidden mayhem with high speed and ill intent. There came a sound of wood impacting flesh hard.

The parrot came tearing out of the fray. It jumped into the air, did a loop around a terrified and completely out of it Tamina, then stooped as Jamie emerged from the cloud rubbing a breast and wincing. With clear menace it shot it's talons forward with malice aforethought.

Jamie promptly swung the table leg and struck a line drive towards the chimney with an odd sounding leathery thump. The parrot shot into the chimney and promptly lit on fire.

"Booya!" Jamie shouted, then winced as she became aware that she was now being approached by a flaming indestructible parrot. "Not good... not good. notgood!"

The girl tore away, and began running laps around the room, the parrot pursuing and lighting things on fire as it passed. This continued for two laps, until on the third Jamie realized a problem.

"Awwwwww crap. Those empty liquor barrels are on fire. If the fumes get too hot..."

At that moment, outside, the two Eisenfaust heard a soft "poomf" sound they would later determine was Jamie yanking Tamina and Nera out of the rafters. Then they heard a loud thump they would learn was an upended table. This was followed by a louder thump and squawk as the parrot collided with the table.

And then things really got loud.

After picking themselves up off the street, they looked about at the debris strewn throughout the neighborhood. There were flaming planks everywhere, several shattered barrels were spinning in various spots along the road, tables and chairs were falling out of the sky at random moments, and the bar was gone.

A table near them shifted, then flopped over as Jamie, hair smoking slightly and every inch of her smeared with soot, pushed it aside. She grabbed Tamina into a sitting position, then deposited a disturbingly cheerful Nera back into her makeshift sling. Next to her a smoking featherless parrot gave one squawk, gave Jamie the finger (we don't know how) and walked over to the snoring lump in the middle of the crater before promptly passing out.

"Now THAT'S what I call a bar!"

One of the Eisenfaust glanced at the other. "That her?"

"Anyone else capable of that much destruction in her first half hour ashore?"

This should be a LOT of fun. Here are mine, as requested; not only one centering on "my" character (although Rose was still intended as an NPC when it happened) and one on someone else's, but also one comedic and one dramatic. Incidentally, the texts are spoilered not because there's anything spoilerific about them, but to make this easier to read, since they're both fairly long.

"I'm not sure what to do now," Sister Rose agreed. "It may be best to sleep on this one. I'll seek some advice at the mission. And just in case you were thinking it, no, my polymorph magic doesn't extend to going transgendered." Argus' expression was unreadable, which was probably just as well.

"But let me try one thing. I don't want to go back to the mission looking like ... what I'm about to look like; I want to preserve enough mana to change back to something ... respectable. That would leave me pretty well used up if anything came along in the compound, so this is just to get you thinking for tomorrow. Come over here." She tugged Argus' arm, pulling him toward an alley. Argus resisted for a moment, wondering what passersby might think, then realized there weren't any passersby, and that he didn't give a damn anyway.

"Okay, here goes," Rose said, and her eyes glowed again, with a hint of a grimace ...

Argus gaped.

Standing before him was a tall, gristly woman -- at least he thought it was still a woman -- in a severe, form-fitting gray uniform bearing the logo "Church Militant" on its sleeves. Short-cropped black hair poked from under a peaked cap with a skull-and-crossbones insignia at the front. The gray pants were tucked into knee-length leather boots. In one gloved hand, Sister Rose held a riding crop; in the other, a large dog collar. What looked like a whip was tucked into her waistband. Rose's normally sensitive, serene face was gaunt to the point of emaciation and drawn up in a sneer. She had what appeared to be a saber scar on one cheek.

And green eyes.

"Vell, vat do you tink?" Rose asked, in a voice that could shatter glass.

Wow. It's been six years already, huh? Time flies... and gives people time to think. A lot of time

I tried not to think about you for a year. It was hard, what with everyone looking at me as 'the daughter of the exile' and everything. Eventually, they got the idea that it was easier to leave me alone. Let's just say that some of the spells you taught me came in handy as deterrents. Ask Maduin if you want to know some of the details; he was there for quite a few of them, and talked me down more than once. He's a good person Daddy. You can trust him. I don't know how I would have gotten through my school days without him.

I graduated top of my class from Sashi Mu. How about that! I totally nailed my senior project on advanced golem design. If I ever get the chance, I have got to introduce you to 'Rupert.' He's a nice piece of work, if I do say so myself, and I'm damned proud of him. I've already got a few people asking about commissions. You were right; as long as you refuse to play the stupid social game, people tend to deal with you fairly. But you were also wrong; if you DO play the game, and play it well, people tend to treat you WELL. I mad a lot of help from Maduin on that front. I think Mom did the same for you. I really Miss here. And Addy. And you, too.

Daddy... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I should have said something. I should have tried to find you. I said some terrible things to you before they threw you out of here, and I'm so ashamed of all of them. What happened in the transmission corridor... it wasn't your fault. Someone set up the glyph stones wrong. There were a million things that could have gone wrong, and we were just unlucky enough that Mom and Addy got caught in the blast. And if you ask me, Proctor Kazzaraf had it coming. I... was just angry. Half my family had died, and you were being taken away from me... I was scared, Daddy. I should have thought about what you were going through. But I didn't. I should have gone looking for you. But I didn't. I drowned myself in anger, and all the horrible rumors they spread about you up here, and then I was too ashamed to come see you. Ashamed of myself. Never you. Never.

So, anyway, I'm seeing a guy named Jerecht. He's a battlemage, and one of your sympathizers. There are a few people up here who think you got treated pretty badly, and totally unfairly, and he's one of them. We were thinking... when we do get married, maybe we'd go somewhere abroad for the ceremony... maybe you could be there. It might be a while before you can sneak a letter back to me, so it might be hard to stay in touch, I know... but I want to see you again. There's just so much we need to talk about that can't be conveyed through a letter.

Anyway, this letter is running long. I've never been to good at these things, as you know. But if you can, just have Maduin let me know that you're doing all right. Okay? I don't know what you're up to these days, but I hear you're annoying that jerk Kitaura. And that's a good thing in my book! And Jerecht's.

I love you, Daddy. And I miss you. Let me see you soon.

All my love

Your Daughter

Fayna Cleiviein.

Argus read the letter twice, clutched it to his chest, and cried like a baby.

There are any number of candidates for the second category -- Desiree's opening dance scene (wow), Argus revealing to Rose that he's Lillith's father, Lucas passes out glamour smokes (comedic rather than dramatic, and V-S, we miss you greatly ...), Lillith subdues the corrupt priest in Mazantzel, Drusia's near-fatal fight with Arsoro Kurou, and on and on. There has been some good writing here!

n a sudden blur of speed, and elf was suddenly standing above Desiree and and Lillith. There was no time to react. No time to scream. They could only look up in shock...

And mild confusion...

At the greenest elf they had ever seen, who also happened to have a huge, cheery smile on his face.

"Hello, boobies! I mean ladies! I notice that you very naked! Also bathing! Might I aid you in this process? I assure you that I am very adept, and very dextrous!" Thus said, Selvay the Green Elf hurriedly began disrobing.

Seconds later, he wondered where all the pain was coming from.

"You... Damn... ELF!" Lillith shouted, her voice from from the usual quiet tones of the meek priestess. "What do you think you are doing?"

Her arms shot out, grabbing the mostly disrobed Selvay from behind as he was stumbling away from the tree he'd just been forcibly introduced to.

"AAAAAAYAAAAAAAA!" Lillith shouted as she buried her shoulder in the small of Selvey's back. Shrieking in anger, the girl jerked Selvey off his feet and into the air before she bent backwards and collapsed, dropping him head first to the ground.

"My head pounds with passion from your embrace!"

"ELF!" Lillith screeched. She whipped around still on the ground, and grabbed Selvey by the head, then dragged him over to the pool. With outraged force she thrust his head under the water and held it there.

Still immersed up to her neck in the water, a wide eyed Desiree contemplated Lillith's sudden change in demeanor. "Lillith, are you that outraged that he saw you nude?"

"Nude?" Lillith looked surprised. "I'm a priestess. Fertility is part of what I do." She shrugged. "But he interrupted my peaceful relaxation."

A burst of bubbles erupted from the water, a voice being muffled and blurbled upward through them. Lillith lifted Selvey's head out of the water. "What?"

Selvey smiled as water ran down his face. He looked at Desiree. "I said, 'Your maidenly parts look amazing in the light filtering through the water."

Selvey found himself sailing through the air once again, pleased with how athletic and beautiful his two new found loves were, even if the boulder he was about to smash into didn't look like a comfortable spot to make love.

And a bit from Drusia:

Something clinks past my teeth and lodges in the back of my throat as I take a second swig. I pull the bottle away, holding it out to my side as I choke. I fight the instinct to clutch at my neck - a generally useless gesture - and instead wrap my arm just below my diaphram and bend over sharply. I foul it up, or maybe I need the other arm, and I'm starting to get light headed. It feels like my tongue is swelling, but that doesn't make any sense and I need to try again so I bring in both arms this time, still holding the stupid bottle and I try again.

The air in my lungs pushes the object forward. It hits my teeth again - it feels larger now - and I almost choke on it again before I manage to cough it out into my free hand.

I spend a few seconds gasping for breath. Well, that would have been humilating. After surviving the Errant War, a thousand plus years as a peregin, much of which I spent working behind the backs of my own people to foster a village full of half-elves, to get killed by choking on a bottle of wine.

"That was decidedly unpleasant," I say, my voice slightly raspier than usual. Doing my best to ignore the shocked expressions of pretty much everyone, I look down at the object I coughed up.

It's a glass bead, clear with a red swirl in the center. A swirl that moves, and glows slightly. Enchantment of some sort, but... I pause, looking at the bead, then at the bottle. I hold up the bottle and the bead, and set the bead neatly on top of the bottle - it is clearly too large to fit through the neck of the bottle. So it really did expand when I tried to swallow it. An interesting assassination technique, and an odd one since it relies on the target drinking directly from the bottle. And, why have it expand when it could have as easily exended blades and sliced my guts to ribbons from the inside?

This post started right before I joined the game, but now I have something to add to it. For other people's characters, I loved the scene that starts here, Desiree's massage of Argus and Rose their first night in Goriel.

My favorite scene with Tim so far is the "three-armed lust monster" encounter in the Background Noise thread, here - just because it was the most fun to write. And because having Tim rescued by Desiree turned his world upside-down, 'least partway.

I want to wait a while to pronounce a favorite scene for Udo. The best may be yet to come. Or he may get killed.

Alberich wrote:Udo saw Gabriel at the head of his forces - exactly where he wanted him! And Udo was shouting instructions of his own - in Tsuirakuan.

"<Drop the barrier!>" said he to Khoo. "<And raise it behind that goatfucker!!!>"

Putting the barrier behind the first scouts had been like slicing off a piece of cake. And anyone who took a look at Udo knew - here was a man who believed in cutting off a second slice!

Now where the mages were when the barrier went up again depended on where they were standing. But if any mage was on this side, Udo was going to engage him in magical combat, to draw his attention and keep him off of the kobolds. Or if they were both on the other side, he'd use his own magic shield to strengthen the barrier - two wizards versus two, giving his friends the maximum time to take out the enemy leader! For he couldn't do it all at once, and he didn't want to blast at Gabriel Goatfucker -- that guy was quick and could dodge, so that Udo's bolts would hit the barrier and help the enemy take it down. No, he'd have to concentrate on the mage or mages, and leave the hand-to-hand villain to the others.

The situation called for faith in his companions. And he had that in abundance. It also called for a bold, inspiring battle cry --

"RALKIN SUCK DONKEY BALLS!!!!"

This was as good odds as they were going to get out here. To work!

Some of the kobolds stayed in the jungle - they'd gotten wise to the fact that the enemy might try to get around the barrier, and they needed to be ready to kill them where they were on the stronger ground. And watch for opportunities, like the cunning hunters that they were. Others had revenge to take on the path, with whatever weapons they thought best. And Tamina? That bravest of and kindest of kobolds knew best what she would do.

Actually the whole "Ralkin" adventure was a lot of fun for writing Udo's part. It brought out all the best and worst in him and he got to try a lot of moves. (I anticipate he'll be moving into more of a "sidekick" role for his next adventures -- and wearing more clothes.)

Richard Morris stared down at the prone sprawl of the late Captain with an expression of vicious satisfaction. He eyed the smoking holes in the man's chest and nodded as if in agreement.

"Wild animal..." He muttered, and returned his attention to his desk and the valuables there on.

"I didn't think the warden's had much need of guns." A raspy voice intoned behind him.

Morris turned in alarm and saw something he would have said was impossible if he hadn't been witnessing it firsthand. Gabriel had sat up from his prone position and was staring back at the middle-aged man with an expression of faint amusement. Morris opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"I mean..." Gabriel continued in that same lung-punctured voice as he pulled himself back to this feet. "...all your men are armed, all the prisoners aren't, if you can't keep defenseless men in order with a sword, why spend extra on a revolver?"

"Die!" Morris screamed, finally finding his voice. He fired another two shots at the rising man, the first cut a grove in the side of his neck, the second jerked his arm backwards as it punched a hole in his forearm. Gabriel staggered sideways, chuckling loudly.

"Futile Richard." He said, as if the words were a title. He began walking towards the other man. "Trying to keep order in his tiny world, dreaming his petty dreams..."

"WHAT ARE YOU?" Morris face was a mixture of fury and fear. He fired again, blowing a neat hole in the ex-Captain's guts, which did nothing to slow his progress.

"I'm the future, you insignificant worm." All humor was gone from Gabriel's expression. He spoke in a flat tones of a psychopath as he closed on his victim. He extended a hand towards Morris' neck, who gave a last scream and fired again. The bullet made a smoking tunnel in the palm whose fingers shot forward and wrapped themselves around the older man's neck. Morris was jerked forward until he was face to face with his former subordinate. He made an urgent, strangled sound, pressed the barrel of the gun against his attacker's head, and pulled the trigger a final time.

An empty click was the only sound to be heard.

Gabriel wasted no further breath, he seized the man's hair, drew him downwards and slammed his head against the desk. He pulled Morris upright and did it again.

And again.

And again.

Tamina, explaining why she hates the term 'catgirl'.

The lead priest visibly blanched, partially from the gun leveled at his face and partially from what the young merc had just said to him.

"You mean you... with a demon... a FEMALE...!?"

"Not demon!" Tamina shouted, now she'd had a second to catch her breath and explain. "'M a Killikah gah! Kobold!" She looked at the some of the acolytes who still had puzzled looks on their faces, sighed, and said the term she despised. "Catgirl!"

A ripple seemed to run through the group; a sound of recognition like 'oooOOOoooh.'

"I thought she looked like one..." One man murmured.

"Why didnt say you anything?" Replied another.

"Got caught up in the moment I guess." The man replied.

"She reminds of this one time at The Red Rose..." Said a third.

"WHAT??"

"Umm... nothing."

The group was beginning to disperse, the exception being the lead priest who stood, immobile, his only concession towards movement being the twitch of his cheek and the quiet, circular muttering about 'female demons' and 'carnal knowledge'.

Tamina ignored him, instead she mumbled a spell which got her knee back to working order, then brushed the dust off Jamie's clothes with obvious affection.

"Hate that term 'catgirls', s'like calling yooman's 'monkeymen'. " She said and then, pointing at Moose. "Who be this?"

And I liked Udo's introduction in that thread as well...

The wagon lurched along, slow, strong steeds in front, through the broken hills between Port Lorrel and Ester. The terrain ensured two things: (1) a wagon this size was never leaving the road, and (2) every stretch along it was well-made for an ambush.

Young Master Sanders started grumbling right away. He didn't want to go on the trip, and he wanted the trip to be longer. He wanted more wagons and more guards. He wanted to carry something more interesting than barrels of salted fish and kegs of horseradish. He wanted companions who wouldn't bitch-slap him 'til he shut up. But he had a saving grace: he could be taught to respect violence.

A couple of hours passed in relative silence, and the wagon creaked around a large rock into sort of wide ravine. The clifftops would make perfect military crests, the boulders could provide perfect cover for men in ambush.

And there was their enemy, right in front of them. Bandits. Well, a bandit. He was standing on a short platform in the middle of the road. In front of him was a stick, and swivel-mounted on top of it was a gun. Of sorts. It had six short rifle barrels, bolted together in a fan-shaped pattern, and each had a cocked hammer. No cylinders or clips - this was a one-burst, slow-reload deal. But the barrels were big, and if they all went off, the horses might be hit.

The man behind it was approaching middle age, and his pot-bellied body had a start on the "spread." He wore a long-skirted Tsuirakuan dress uniform, and the chest gleamed with medals that could blind his opponents in bright sunlight. Six knives and short sticks were stuck into his sash. His left hand held a short staff with a knobbly bit on the end, and his right gripped the butt of that fan-shaped gun. His round, bearded face wore an expression of triumph.

"STAND AND DELIVER!" he called out. "You'd better beware! I'm a veteran elite heliomancer, and if you don't stand and deliver, I'll show you how we did it in the war! Let's have some Standing! Followed by Deliverance!"

It's hard to go wrong picking a "Tamina" moment -- especially if she is being molested, perved at, or called a "catgirl" instead of a "kobold." For the last, I liked the latest rendering from our current adventure --